Closer than expected
by Bart s
Summary: Starts after GOF. Harry and Hermione romance eventually. Nobody believes in Harry and he feels like he stands alone to fight the Dark Lord. Hermione sees this and helps Harry in every way she can. Ron and Dumbledore bashing probably included.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Okay writing HP fanfic is still quite new for me so please be kind. I'm also not English or American so sorry for any grammar mistakes etc.**

 **Starts after GOF, will follow the original plot in some ways but mostly not. Harry/Hermione romance. Ron and Dumbledore bashing probably included.**

 **Please leave a review and let me know what you think of it.**

 _Closer than expected_

August 1996

It wasn't the first night this summer that Harry Potter lay awake in his bedroom, despite it being the middle of the night. Images of Cedric Diggory's dead body kept him awake almost every single night.

A big furrow was upon his brow as he tried to push the flashbacks from last June out of his mind. He looked around the room to find something to distract his mind but without success given the fact that he was at the Dursley's for yet another summer.

Slowly and in a bit of a trance he got out of his bed and made his way to the desk in the room. His eyes fell on the letters his friends had wrote him during the last couple of weeks. 6 of the 9 letters on the desk were from Hermione, 2 from Sirius and only one from Ron.

It was the first time he realized that Ron had only sent one single letter. He remembered well, one of the first days of the summer break he had written 2 identical letters for Ron and Hermione saying he was at the Dursley's and probably wouldn't see them till September.

In response Hermione had sent him a long letter explaining she would try her best to send as much food as possible, knowing that Harry always starved during summer and she promised to keep him updated on everything that was going on in the magical world.

As Harry drew circles with his thumb on the letters he smiled at the thought of Hermione caring so much for him, but that smile faded when he remembered that Ron had responded as well.

He took Ron's letter from the bottom of the pile and opened it.

"Good Luck Harry" was written in a messy handwriting, not more than that.

Suddenly Harry felt his temper rise and without even realizing what he was doing he tore Ron's letter into pieces and threw them out of the window. Harry was angry at his friend for such a stupid response, especially after all they had been through.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

After spending most of the morning in his room and doing his best to try and avoid his family, Harry decided to go outside for a walk. This he hoped would keep his mind from everything else. After a few minutes, however he realized that this was not the case.

Pictures of Wormtail and Voldemort were still in his head as he walked around the corner on to a sports field. He sat down on the grass pitch and closed his eyes for a few seconds.

A green flash of light… A high-pitched voice laughing … People screaming…Harry's mind was replaying these sounds and images over and over again.

With a lot more effort than usual Harry opened his eyes again and immediately knew something was off.

As he looked around the sports field he realized that the sky was dark and cloudy where it was bright and sunny just a few moments ago. He also felt the grass break under his hands as if it was frozen.

Harry quickly jumped to his feet as he realized what this meant. Dementors were near him!

Harry took a few seconds to go over his options. He could either make his way back to the Dursley's house as quickly as possible, or he could wait here and try to defend himself. The second option however wasn't a real option since he was in the middle of an open sports field and wasn't allowed to use magic.

With his heart beating three times as fast inn his neck he started running for the exit of the sports field and ran into the next street and decided to take a short-cut through a small park on his left.

Only a few yards before the end of the park, Harry fell to his knees. It was as if something was sucking all his energy and willpower out of him. Harry knew what this meant, the Dementors had caught up with him.

As he forced himself to look over his shoulder he panicked a little bit when he saw the two big, dark-clothed creatures slowly glide his way. What was he supposed to do?

Harry knew he didn't have any other option than to use magic if he wanted to survive this encounter with the two Dementors and just hoped he wouldn't get punished because of it.

With a lot of effort, he pulled out his wand from his jeans and pointed it at the Dementors.

"Expecto patronum!" Harry managed to speak with an unusual quiet voice.

With a smile of relief on his face, Harry watched his silver coloured stag appear and chase after the Dementors. It didn't take his patronus long to make the two dark creatures go away.

Harry quickly got up from the ground and made his way back to the Dursley's house. Once inside, he went straight upstairs to his room since he was in no mood to speak to his relatives.

After sitting on his bed for a few moments Harry noticed not one, but three owls flying to his window. He quickly opened it so the owls could fly in.

As soon as he took the three letters of the owls they immediately flew off again, leaving a slightly confused Harry behind.

Harry got a weird and annoying feeling in his stomach when he realized who wrote the letters. One was an official looking letter from the Ministry of Magic, one was written in a handwriting Harry recognized as Kingsley Shacklebolt's, and finally the last one was from Hermione.

Harry fought the urge to start with the letter from his close friend and decided it was probably wise to start with the letter from the Ministry. He had a bad feeling about this one and his hands were shaking while he opened the envelope.

He quickly scanned through the letter and knew his worse fears just became reality. He read it a second time and tried to consume the information that was stated.

Expelled from Hogwarts, losing his wand, being cut off from the magical world. Harry felt sick just by the thought of it. In his worrying, he almost forgot the two other letters. Quickly he opened Shacklebolt's letter.

" _We're working on it._

 _Do not speak to anyone._

 _Do not give your wand."_

Harry read these three lines over and over again. What does that mean we're working on it, who even is we? Harry closed his eyes and tried to calm his temper he felt rising. Harry knew all he could do now was wait and see where this was going. He reached out for the third and last letter Hermione had sent and slowly opened it.

" _HARRY ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!_

 _I'M SO WORRIED, THEY WON'T TELL US ANYTHING_

 _PLEASE STAY SAFE UNTIL WHATEVER IS GOING ON IS SETTLED!_

 _Love, Hermione"_

Harry didn't know what he was feeling at the moment. He was touched by the fact that Hermione seemed to be the only one who was worried for him. He was feeling angry and annoyed because she knew who the "we" were and didn't tell him in this or any of her previous letters.

Feeling tired Harry sat down on his bed, head resting on his knees and his hands playing with his beloved wand he wasn't sure he was allowed to keep after today.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Slowly Harry opened his eyes and looked out of his window where he saw that it was already late in the evening. He pushed the thoughts of his encounter with the Dementors and the ministry out of his head and stared out his window.

He didn't react when a floor beneath him the doorbell rang, he wasn't allowed to open the door anyways.

"Potter!" Harry suddenly heard his uncle scream from downstairs. This couldn't mean any good thought Harry before he slowly made his way downstairs.

"It's a few of your people" his uncle growled when he saw Harry and with that he disappeared into the living room, leaving Harry alone with the guests.

With his heart beating heavy in his chest, Harry took the last few steps off the stairs and looked who was standing in front of the door. His heart made a little jump when he recognized who was there for him.

Arthur Weasley, Mad-eye Moody, Remus Lupin, Kingsley Shacklebolt and a young witch with green hair Harry didn't recognize were smiling at him.

"You have 5 minutes to pack your stuff and go with us." Mad-eye said before Harry could even greet them properly. "Tonks will help you."

The young witch took a step and waited for Harry to show her the way to his room so it was Harry's guess that this was Tonks.

It was only when Harry and Tonks arrived in his room that Harry realized what a mess it was. His books were spread out over the entire room, his clothes as well. Here and there were potions ingredients and all kinds of stuff.

"Euhh sorry." Harry stuttered and with a slight blush on his face he started packing.

Tonks just gave him a little wink before she started to help him. Within a few minutes all of Harry's stuff was packed and they were ready to go.

"Oh by the way I completely forgot to introduce myself." Tonks said as she and Harry were about to walk downstairs. "I'm Tonks, I'm a junior auror, my real name is Nymphadora but if you call me that I'll hex you." She added and smiled at the face Harry was making.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Harry carefully loosened his grip of his broom and stretched his almost frozen fingers. They had been flying for almost two hours now and Harry started to get tired since it was almost midnight. Mad-eye and the rest had simply refused to tell Harry where they were going, something that irritated him a lot.

After another 30 minutes of flying Harry, who was closely behind Lupin's broom realized they were heading towards the ground. They had arrived at their destination.

When they all landed Harry took a short moment to look around. They were in a normal looking neighbourhood, no signs of any magic Harry thought to himself.

"Please read this Harry," Remus said and gave Harry a small piece of parchment.

It took Harry a few seconds to realize he was reading an address. An address of somewhere in this street. But when Harry searched for the house with number 12, as written on the piece of parchment, he saw it was missing.

He read the address several times again and gasped when he looked up to the houses in front of him again. Number 12 had appeared right where it should have been before. Harry couldn't stop the smile appearing on his face. He loved magic!

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Slowly Harry made his way up the stairs to the room Lupin said he should go. He had heard voices from a large room downstairs, including Sirius his voice, but the adults didn't allow him to enter. Harry fell his anger rise again by the simple thought that they would deny him to see his godfather.

As he entered the room on the second floor he saw it was a simple bedroom with two large beds in it. One of the beds clearly had been used the last couple of days and after one look at the possessions around the bed Harry realized it was Ron who had been sleeping here.

It was only after a sharp hooting noise that Harry turned around and saw Hedwig and the rest of his belongings next to the free bed. He walked to his beautiful white snow owl. While he was stroking the now much happier looking owl he let his mind drift to all that had happened today. Harry was irritated by all the mystery that was hanging around, especially since he was involved the most.

A knock on the door made Harry stop thinking about it. He walked towards the door of the room but before he reached it, it already flew open and a second later something brown and bushy clung around his body. Hold on that wasn't something, it's Hermione, Harry thought to himself.

When he looked up he saw Ron standing in the doorway as well, and noticed he was looking at Hermione, who still had Harry in a bone-crushing hug, with a weird expression.

A few moments later Hermione finally released Harry and he could breathe normally again. He immediately noticed the worrying look his best friend was giving him.

"Good to see you mate," Ron said and was the first to break the silence.

Harry simply nodded in response before turning away from both his friends and walking to the window where he stopped and stared outside. Now that he finally was reunited with his friends he realized how angry he actually was with them.

Hermione fell her heart break a little when she had seen the look in Harry's eyes. She knew before that Harry probably would be angry with them but when she also saw that hurt in his eyes she had to do her best not to start crying. She quickly gave Ron a worried look but he didn't seem to be bothered by the whole situation.

"Harry, I know you're probably angry with us but please let me explain why we didn't give you any information what was going on" Hermione said with a trembling voice. Harry however didn't react at all. Unsure if she should keep talking Hermione was quiet.

Then after what seemed hours Harry finally said something.

"Just tell me why," he almost whispered.

Hermione now had tears in her eyes. There was so much hurt in those few words that Harry said that she wanted to give him another hug but she knew that wasn't an option right now.

"Dumbledore made us promise we wouldn't give you any information about what was going on at the Ministry and here with the Order," Hermione quickly began to talk. But she realized Harry didn't even know about the Order.

After briefly describing the Order, its members and its functions she continued.

"Please Harry believe me when I say that we felt really bad about it. I was so worried about you the whole time and even wrote a few letters with a tiny bit of information for you but Dumbledore checks every letter that goes in and out."

Hermione now couldn't stop her tears anymore and quietly began crying. She felt sad for being such a bad friend to Harry.

Harry slowly turned around and looked at both his friends, even though he realized Ron had not said a word since Hermione was speaking. When he saw the tears on Hermione's face he felt a bit for causing them. It wasn't the first time she cried because of him he realized, something he disliked a lot.

"I'm sorry guys, I shouldn't be mad at you two," Harry said with a little voice and put a hand on Hermione's shoulder in an attempt to show her he felt bad for her tears.

Hermione wiped the tears from her skin and looked up to her friend. She had always admired his courage and talent but now for one of the first times ever she realized how big of a heart Harry had. And somehow the warmth of his hand on her shoulder felt really nice.

Hermione got a slight blush on her face when she realized what she was just thinking to herself. But luckily the blush went unnoticed by the two other people in the room.

"it's alright mate, I would be pretty pissed as well to be honest," Ron said after a while, nervously looking at Harry. The redhead teen still had an uneasy feeling when he saw how close Harry and Hermione were but decided not to make a comment on it.

After a short while with a bit of an awkward silence in the room they heard Mrs. Weasley shout from downstairs to join them for some food. Only after that Harry realized how hungry he was.

But it wasn't only food he was hungry for, he was hungry for answers as well. He hoped some of the Order people were still around and wasn't disappointed when he heard the noise of a lot of people coming from what Harry presumed was the kitchen.

When he heard the voice of Albus Dumbledore he knew one thing for sure. He wasn't going to leave the kitchen before he got his answers.

Meanwhile Hermione was looking at Harry every two seconds. She knew that look on his face, he was going to confront some people, and honestly, she couldn't blame him. She just hoped Harry wouldn't get hurt even worse.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: thank you for everyone who followed/favorited or reviewed so far! I appreciate it a lot Keep them up ;)**

 **I found this chapter pretty hard to write so please bear with me… ;p**

Harry ignored everybody else as soon as he entered the kitchen of Grimmauld Place 12, his focus was only on his godfather who was smiling at him from the corner of the room.

"Sirius!" Harry let out in an unnatural high voice before walking in to the wide-spread arms of his godfather. As soon as he felt the comfort of the embrace part of his anger and irritation faded away.

Hermione watched in awe when Harry greeted his only living family member. She knew how much Sirius meant for him and was glad Harry was finally reunited with him again. Something she also noticed was Dumbledore quickly packing all his stuff and getting ready to leave, Harry however didn't see this.

"Are you already leaving professor?" Hermione said a bit louder than she normally would so she would get the attention of everybody in the room, including Harry and Sirius.

When Harry turned around Dumbledore was already in the fireplace, ready to floo back to wherever.

"Yes miss Granger, I'm sorry to leave so quickly but I have important business waiting for me." Dumbledore said with his famous twinkling eyes and a little smile. "It's good to see you all reunited he added."

"WAIT!" Harry shouted but it was too late. Green flames filled the fireplace and the headmaster of Hogwarts disappeared. Suddenly Harry felt his anger come back.

"COWARD!" he screamed, grabbing the edges of the large wooden kitchen table. "I WANT AN EXPLANATION!"

What Harry didn't realize was that his anger literally caused everything in the room to shake, as if an earthquake hit the kitchen. A shocked Hermione quickly walked over to Harry and placed a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him down.

As soon as Harry felt the gentle touch on his shoulder he calmed down a tiny bit and turned around to look Hermione in the eyes. Their eyes locked for a few seconds before Harry straightened his shoulders and looked to the rest of the people in the room.

Almost everybody was staring at him with wide-eyes and a confused expression on their face. The only ones who were looking calm as if nothing special had happened were Remus, Sirius and Mad-Eye.

"I want answers," Harry repeated, this time with a more normal, but still emotion filled, voice. He let himself fall in one of the kitchen chairs and looked at the adults in the room.

Hermione quickly took another kitchen chair and sat down next to Harry and after shooting Ron a glare the redhead followed her example on the other side of Harry. She looked at Harry with a worried expression on her face. She knew Harry was upset with Dumbledore now and honestly, she was too, what was the headmaster doing?!

After looking at each other for a few seconds the rest of the people in the room joined the three teens at the kitchen table and waited for somebody to start. Nobody really knew where to start and after they had seen how emotional Harry was they were a bit scared as well.

Sirius who was sitting next to Hermione decided to be the one to break the silence.

"Harry, we owe you an apology for this summer," Sirius said and everybody could hear the sadness in his voice. He knew he had let his godson down this summer. "What do you want to know?"

Harry looked at Sirius for a moment before answering. He could see that Sirius realized how he felt at the moment. "I want to know everything. Why was I left completely alone this summer, without information? Why weren't my friends allowed to write me? What is going to happen to me because of the Dementor incident?"

"Before we can start Harry, have a look at this, it is where a lot of it starts with," Remus said from the other side of the table and handed Harry a folded Daily Prophet.

Harry didn't even need to unfold the paper before he could see why Remus had given it to him. His eye immediately fell upon the title on the front-page.

 _HARRY POTTER, BOY-WHO-LIVES OR BOY-WHO LIES?_

Harry read the title over and over again for a few minutes before tossing the paper into the fireplace. His felt his mind racing to try and understand what this was all about.

"The ministry is trying to hide the fact that Voldemort is back Harry," Sirius with disgust in his voice. "They are profiling you as a liar and even make Dumbledore look like an idiot."

"What did I ever do wrong to the ministry?" Harry said. He went through his hair with one hand in frustration that he couldn't understand what was happening.

"Nothing Harry," Kingsley answered with his deep voice. "We believe the ministry thinks that you and Dumbledore are plotting against the Minister to get his power."

Harry let these words sink in for a few moments. It was ridiculous that the ministry or anyone else for that matter could believe this nonsense.

"Dumbledore doesn't even speak to me nowadays," Harry said with a quiet voice. "He doesn't even want to spend his time in one room with me as you all saw before."

Hermione did her best to try and hold back the tears in her eyes. She hated it to see Harry this hurt. Her best friend looked so hurt and alone that she felt the urge to jump up from her chair and give him one of her special, bone-crushing, hugs, but she knew she couldn't do that right now. So instead she looked at Sirius who looked at Remus, nobody really knew what to say to Harry at this point.

"To answer the other two questions that you had Potter, do you know what the Order of the Phoenix is?" Mad-eye said from the far end of the table.

Harry nodded and quickly thought about the explanation Hermione had given him before about the Order.

"Well since you're not officially a member of the Order we can't tell you anything that is going on and were your two friends not allowed to provide you with any information," Mad-eye said and looked at Harry with his normal and his magical eye.

"This is a joke," Harry said with a voice that was barely more than a whisper but still loud enough for everybody to hear. He couldn't believe that they didn't trust him.

"I'm sorry Potter but those are the rules," Mad-eye said even though Harry noticed that he didn't look happy about it.

"Fine then in Merlin's name make me a part of the order!" Harry said throwing his arms up in frustration.

"No way!" a voice from the back said loudly and everybody turned around to see Molly Weasley stand there. "He is way too young, the same goes for Ron and Hermione!"

Before Harry could stop the lost his temper completely.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" he shouted while jumping up from his chair. "I FOUGHT VOLDEMORT MORE TIMES THAN ALL OF YOU COMBINED, I SAW HIM COME BACK, I SAW HIM KILL CEDRIC, I DUELLED WITH HIM IN THE GRAVEYARD!"

Everybody in the room looked at Harry with shocked expressions on their face. They all knew he was right with that. Hermione looked at Ron and hoped he knew what to do but when she only saw him shrug his shoulders and give her a nervous smile she had to fight the urge to get mad at him. Harry was more important now she said to herself.

"Harry is right," Sirius, who had stood up from his chair as well, said and looked at the rest of the adults in the room.

"He is too young Sirius, he is only 15!" Molly countered with a red face.

"Mrs. Weasley I really appreciate your concern for me, but I think I have the right to know," Harry came in between them with a trembling voice. "I lost everything because of Voldemort and his followers and now you don't want me to fight against him?"

Molly looked a bit shocked at this statement of Harry, she knew how much the young boy had lost due to You-Know-Who but she really believed he was way too young for all of this. When she looked around the room however, she realized she had lost. Not only Harry's two teenage friends seem to agree with him but also a large part of the adults.

Harry, who knew he had won this argument, decided to go into phase two. "What is Voldemort doing at the moment, what is happening out there?" he asked almost directly to Sirius because he knew he would give him an answer.

Sirius had to fight the urge to give Harry a huge smile, he knew this matter was way too serious for that, but man did Harry remind him of James.

For the next hour Sirius, with the help of the other adults, explained to Harry what Voldemort and his followers were doing at the moment. They also explained what was going on at the ministry and how Minister Fudge was manipulating the wizarding world. Finally, at the end they also explained Harry what was happening with regard to the Dementor attack. They told him Dumbledore was handling the situation and that he had to go to a hearing maybe.

Slowly Harry let his tired head rest on his arms. He had tried his best to take in all the information that was given to him this evening. He didn't even realize it was in the middle of the night until Mrs. Weasley ordered everybody to go and sleep. Slowly everybody got up and went either upstairs to get ready for bed, or to the door to go home.

Hermione's mind was working on top speed. She was glad the adults finally had given Harry a lot more information than before, but it wasn't only Harry who had heard all this for the first time, all the information was new to her as well.

Hermione hear the door of the upstairs bathroom open and somebody walk out and quickly went to check who it was. To her relief she saw who she had hoped for.

"Hey Hermione," Harry said with a quiet voice as he turned around at the noise of footsteps coming his way. Even though he was running on fumes and couldn't wait to get into his bed he was happy to see his friend.

"How are you feeling Harry?" Hermione asked with a little voice while looking at Harry. Only now she realized how skinny he had become over summer and she got a bit angry at herself for not sending him more food.

Harry shrugged his shoulders and looked at the ground, he honestly didn't know how to describe how he felt. He was happy that he finally found out what was going on, at least a part of it. But he was also still angry and hurt by the lack of trust the people had given him.

Hermione didn't really know what to say either so she decided to go with her instinct and give Harry a bone-crushing hug. She tried to put as much emotion in it so Harry could feel that she was there for him.

The first second Harry was a bit overwhelmed by the hug he was receiving, but after a few seconds he gently returned the hug. Harry however noticed this time it was different. Hermione had given him a hug every now and then over the last couple of years but never was it filled with this much emotion.

After a while, still in a hug with his friend, Harry heard the muffled voice of Hermione against his shoulder. "I'm here for you Harry, no matter what."

Harry felt his heart fill with gratitude for his best friend, he was so thankful for her in this moment. When the two teens let go of each other Harry could clearly see the tears in Hermione's eyes, even though she was giving him a weak smile.

They quickly said good night to each other and went to their rooms, both lost in their own thoughts.

When Harry entered his room and found Ron already snoring in his bed he couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed by his other so-called friend. Was it the lack of interest Ron was showing that annoyed Harry? Or was it the feeling that Harry had that it seemed like the youngest Weasley son didn't care about him?

He decided push away these thoughts for a moment and silently got in his bed, ready for probably another nightmare-filled sleep.

Meanwhile in the other room Hermione couldn't sleep, she was too busy with everything she had heard this evening. She needed to organize her thoughts and despite it being late at night, she pulled some parchment from her bag and sat down at her desk. She wrote down everything she had heard. One thing she knew for sure, she wasn't going to let Harry down!


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: first of all thank you for all the reviews this story got so far, means a lot! Now let's get to it!**

A few hours later Harry abruptly opened his eyes. The same dreams that had been haunting him for the past months had woken him up. He let out a soft groan when he realized it was still dark outside.

Careful not to wake up Ron or anybody else in the house, Harry made his way downstairs. After a few moments of looking around he entered what seemed to be the living room. He found himself a comfortable armchair and curled himself up in it, staring outside completely lost in his thoughts.

Upstairs in the master bedroom Sirius was wide awake as well. He could have sworn that he had heard somebody walk downstairs. First he decided to ignore it and go back to sleep since it was so darn early, but after a few minutes he couldn't help himself and decided to go and check it out.

As Sirius entered the living room of his family's house he was not really surprised to find Harry there. He knew that the encounter between Voldemort and Harry must have taken its toll on the teenager. He himself was no stranger to traumatic events.

"Couldn't sleep Harry?" he said as he stepped in the room. He chuckled a bit when he saw Harry jumping up from his armchair. "Didn't mean to scare you," he added but the flickering in his eyes revealed that he wasn't sorry at all. After all he still was a Marauder.

"Hey euh… yeah I couldn't sleep," Harry murmured with a sleepy voice. "What are you doing up so early?" he added after a while.

Sirius shrugged his shoulders. "Heard somebody head downstairs and figured it would be you," he said eying Harry curiously to see his reaction.

Harry didn't say anything; did Sirius know about his dreams? Should he tell him? He stared to the ground trying to make his mind up.

"Here let's sit down," Sirius said and pointed to the couch when he saw how troubled Harry was. After they both sat down he flicked his wand and two cups of warm tea appeared.

"Look Harry I can see there something on your mind, do you want to share your thoughts?"

Harry looked at Sirius, thankful for the company he was providing. He knew he could trust him with everything and after doubting for a few more moments he decided to speak.

"I haven't been sleeping well lately," Harry started, looking back to the floor of the living room. "I keep seeing things… things that happened last year. And to be honest I don't really know what to do about them."

Sirius felt his heart stop for a moment when he saw in how much pain his godson was. He could feel tears coming up but since Harry would want his advice he managed to hold them back.

"Well Harry let's be honest here, what you experienced at the end of last year at Hogwarts is a lot to deal with. Even most of the adult wizards and witches probably would have problems handling it," Sirius said with a serious but warm voice.

"As for what to do about it, I can only give you one tip really," he said and Harry's head immediately shot up, looking at his godfather.

"First I think that talking about your nightmares and the rest of your troubles would be a good start. Talk about them with someone you trust."

Harry nodded and thought about people who he trusted. Of course he trusted Sirius, but he wouldn't be around if he went back to Hogwarts. Then he realized the last few minutes before he went to bed yesterday.

"Hermione," he whispered aloud without even realizing it. It was when he saw the little smirk on Sirius' face that he realized what he had done. Within a second his cheeks turned dark red, causing the adult to let out a small laugh.

"Don't worry Harry, I won't tell anybody," Sirius said and gave the teenager a little wink.

Wait tell what? Harry thought to himself, but before he could ask him Sirius had already left the room.

OOOOOOOOOO

When Hermione woke up it took her a while to remember why she was sleeping with her head on her desk. She quickly got up and put some fresh clothes on before going downstairs to join the rest of the people for breakfast.

Upon entering the kitchen her eye immediately fell on Harry. Judging by the tired look in his eyes and the dark circles on his face, Hermione knew she was not the only one who had a short night.

"How are you feeling Harry?" she asked quietly so only he, Sirius and Remus could hear as she sat down in the chair next to his.

Harry looked up from his breakfast and saw the worrying look in the eyes of his best friend.

"Ehh, I'm alright 'Mione, just a bit tired," Harry said and tried to give her a weak smile, ignoring the stares from Sirius who was sitting in front of him.

Before Hermione could respond to that, they were "interrupted" by Ron who was joining them. The young witch couldn't stand the way Ron was shoving his food in his mouth and decided to excuse herself to go and take a shower.

After Ron had finished eating, there was a kind of awkward silence between him and Harry. They both just stared at the table in front of them.

"I can give you a tour of the house later if you want," Sirius said to Harry, trying to break the tension that was hanging around the two teenagers. "You've only seen a tiny bit so far."

Harry agreed and followed Sirius out of the kitchen into the old and dusty hallway of the house.

The next few hours Sirius showed Harry all the rooms of the house. He led him through several, unused bedrooms, a gigantic library Harry sure was going to show Hermione, several other living rooms and even his own old bedroom. It was in that last room where Sirius had a surprise for his godson.

"Before you go back to the others, I have something for you Harry," he said with a happy but emotional expression on his face that didn't go unnoticed by Harry.

In silence Sirius handed him a small book with an old binding. It was when Harry opened it and saw the first page that a gasp of shock escaped his mouth.

"It's your father's old diary," Sirius explained the obvious. "But I also put all the pictures in there I could find that either your mum, Remus, James or I made. I thought it was something nice for you to have." At that moment Sirius voice failed on him, too emotional with the thought of his dead best friend.

Harry felt his mouth become completely dry, he didn't know what to say. This diary was the closest thing he had from his parents, except maybe the invisibility cloak from his father. Without saying a word he walked over to Sirius and gave the best hug he had ever given to somebody, with exception of maybe Hermione.

OOOOOOOOOO

Since Grimmauld place 12 was the headquarters of the Order, Harry wasn't surprised by the continuous flow of people coming in and out during the rest of the day. The only thing that caused him a mini heart-attack was when Severus Snape walked in at the end of the day.

"What is he doing here?" Harry hissed, as he and Ron were playing a game of wizarding chess. He looked at the black-haired adult with a lot of mistrust, a look that was returned in the same way by Snape.

"Apparently he's in the Order as well," Ron said, shrugging his shoulders. "It's the third time or so that I see him around."

The two teens focussed back on their game of chess but were soon interrupted by Mrs. Weasley, who was gathering everybody because dinner was ready.

As Harry entered the kitchen he was glad to see that Snape was no longer present. He saw Hermione and Ginny talking and chose to sit next to his brown-haired friend. The disapproving look of Ginny he didn't see.

After everybody finished what was a delicious meal prepared by Mrs. Weasley, they all looked over when they heard the front door open and close again. A few seconds later professor McGonagall entered the kitchen.

After the professor greeted everyone she turned to Harry. "Mr. Potter I'm only here to inform you that Miss Amelia Bones will come and visit you later."

Harry had heard of somebody with Bones as last name before but had no idea who this person was. His thoughts must have shown on his face as Hermione decided to explain him who the person was.

"She is director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, or short DMLE," Hermione said, and yet again Harry was surprised by how smart his friend was.

"So, this is most likely about my incident with the Dementors then? Harry guessed and looked to Sirius and Remus for an answer.

Remus nodded his head, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Amelia is a good person Harry, she isn't on Fudge his side and has helped the Order several times in the past. You can trust her."

OOOOOOOOOO

A few minutes later Harry found himself in the living room, waiting for the director. It didn't take look before the door opened and a middle-aged with short blonde/brown hair and sharp looking eyes came in. Despite the fact she looked very serious, she gave Harry a warmer smile than he expected. But he remembered Remus' words, hecould trust her.

"Good evening director Bones," Harry said politely and stretched out his arm to shake her hand.

This earned him an even warmer smile from the Director. "A please, you can call me Amelia," she started. "I can see so much of your parents in you, it's amazing."

They both sat down in an armchair while Amelia took out a parchment from a small bag she had brought.

"I'm only here to give you the good news that you won't have to go to a hearing for your incident with the Dementors," she said while giving Harry the roll of parchment. "Dumbledore and the majority of the Wizengamot could convince the minister and the rest to let you go."

The thought of Dumbledore made Harry feel the anger inside him again, but there was something more important he needed to ask the director.

"Is it normal for a Minister of Magic to show personal interest in a case of use of underage magic?" Harry asked Amelia.

The older witch was not really surprised by his question. "No Harry, it is not usual at all, but I guess you have seen the papers and heard what is going on in the Ministry."

Harry nodded and in his mind, he could see the title page of the Daily Prophet he read yesterday again. He got a very uneasy feeling in his stomach about the ministry.

Amelia could see the look on Harry's face. It reminded her so much of James and Lily that she had to try her best not to get emotional.

"Not everybody within the ministry is against you Harry," she said with a soft voice. "The minister has a lot of power and uses it to intimidate people. But there are a lot who still support you."

Harry nodded and tried to give her a warm smile, but the result was a rather weak smile on his face. However, Amelia seemed to understand.

The director of the DMLE was almost at the door, ready to leave, before she turned around and looked at Harry once more.

"Your parents would be proud of you Harry," she said before leaving.

Harry felt his heart roar with pride at this statement and felt a lot better.

OOOOOOOOOO

After his talk with the director, Harry went upstairs looking for his friends. He found Ron, Ginny and Hermione all in one of the living rooms upstairs and quickly joined them.

"Hey Harry, what did the director want?" Ron asked half focused on Harry, half focussed on the game of exploding snap cards he was playing with Ginny. Hermione also lay her book aside to hear his answer.

Happily, Harry told them that he did not need to attend a hearing and that his name was clear. A little surprisingly Hermione had rushed over to Harry to give him a quick hug before returning to her books, a slight blush on her cheeks. Harry also had a slight blush on his cheeks and quickly joined the two Weasley's in their game.

A few hours later Ron decided to call it a day and went to his bedroom, since it was already past midnight. That left Harry alone in the room with Ginny and Hermione who were talking to each other about the new schoolyear.

"Ginny why are you not in your bed yet?!" the three teens heard a familiar voice shout from downstairs.

"Ugh mum can never leave me alone," Ginny sighed as she slowly got up and said goodnight to her two friends. Just before she left the room, she looked back feeling slightly irritated that Hermione was now alone with Harry.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Oh my god I completely forgot!" Harry said loudly. He and Hermione had spent another hour in the same room, Hermione still reading and Harry playing with his wand.

He took out the little book Sirius had given to him earlier and handed it to Hermione. After giving Harry a slightly confused look she opened the book.

"Oh Harry," was the only thing she managed to get out when her eye fell on the old picture of his dad and mum together inside the Hogwarts castle. When she looked over to him she saw the genuine smile on his face and realized she smiled too.

"That reminds me, I have another surprise for you 'Mione," Harry said as Hermione gave him back the diary of his father. He stood up from the couch he was sitting on and urged Hermione to do the same.

"Close your eyes," he said with a little twinkle in his eyes.

"I don't know Harry, you know I don't like surprises. Especially when I can't see."

"Do you trust me?" Harry asked and when he saw his friend relax he took his tie and binded it over her eyes as a blindfold.

Gently he led Hermione out of the room and up to the third floor, carefully watching that she wouldn't trip over the steps of the stairs. He led her through the large doors at the end of the hallway and stopped her right there.

"Okay, you can take the blindfold off now," Harry said softly and took a step back, eagerly waiting for the response of Hermione.

Hermione slowly untied the tie. For some reason, she really had enjoyed Harry leading her around the house, something she would not have expected. However, her curiosity right now pushed away the little butterflies from her stomach.

The second Hermione took the tie from her eyes, her jaws hit the floor. She was standing in a huge and impressive library, without a doubt the Black's family library.

"I take it as a good sign you don't say anything," Harry grinned at the sight of a completely stunned Hermione.

Hermione faced him and within a second captured him with a bone-crushing hug. Harry realized that she was giving him quite a few of those lately but he didn't mind at all, he enjoyed the feeling of his smaller friend in his arms.

After a short while both teens found themselves sitting next to each other on a small couch of a little reading area in the library. Hermione found a book of charms that she immediately started reading while Harry was completely lost in a Quidditch book.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: thanks for the positive reviews I received after the last chapter, definitely keep me motivated! This chapter was a bit hard to write so please be kind ;p Now enjoy chapter 4!**

When Harry woke up the next morning it took him a while to realize that the brown and hairy thing on his shoulder was the head of his best friend. Apparently, he and Hermione had fallen asleep in the library, sitting on the couch.

Harry didn't feel uncomfortable with her head on his shoulder but was slightly worried if Hermione would feel the same about that. His doubting mind caused his body to stir a bit, enough to wake Hermione up.

Slowly the young witch opened her eyes, blinked a few times and lay her head back on the comfortable support. After a second or two her eyes shot back open, this wasn't the couch her head was laying on, this was Harry!

Quickly she stood up from the couch and looked to her friend, with a face as red as it could possibly get.

"Ehh, good morning Harry," Hermione stuttered. "I'm sorry for… you know what."

Harry also had a slight blush on his face, but was able to keep up his straight face a lot better than Hermione. "It's alright 'Mione," he said, giving her a smile.

Was it all just in her head or did she get the impression that Harry really didn't mind her sleeping on his shoulder? Hermione thought to herself. No that couldn't be, he only hadn't mind because she was his friend.

Before the situation got a bit awkward, Hermione excused herself to go and change. Harry also got up from the couch, placed the books that lay on the ground back on the shelves and left the library. He had to use all his focus to try and push the thoughts of his friend out of his mind. But one thing was sure, this had been the first night in a long while without nightmares.

OOOOOOOOOO

The following breakfast was quite amusing for Sirius and Remus. They had both watched as Harry and Hermione joined them in the kitchen and clearly didn't miss the blushes appearing on the faces of the teenagers whenever they would look at each other.

Sirius turned to Remus with a wide grin on his face, almost causing Remus to start laughing. But Remus had also noticed somebody else looking at Harry and Hermione with a not so happy expression. Ron however had immediately turned his head away when he saw that Remus was looking at him with questioning eyes.

"Harry and Hermione, are you two joining us to Diagon Alley after everybody is ready?" Mr. Weasley asked as he came in the kitchen.

Harry and Hermione both nodded since basically everybody was going today. But Harry also got a quite uneasy feeling in his stomach. It would be the first time he would appear in public after what had happened last schoolyear, and after what the Daily Prophet had written about him.

Remus saw Harry's worries on his face. "Don't worry Harry, I don't think people will say or do much to you today. And of course you get some protection from us."

"Protection?" Harry asked a bit confused. "Why do I need protection?"

"Well you didn't really think we were going to let you walk around alone now that Voldemort is back eh?" Sirius said with a little grin of amusement on his face.

Harry shrugged his shoulders, he wasn't really happy with the decision but knew he was in no position to argue. "Who is going to be my protection then?" Harry asked trying sound normal.

"Well that would be me," Harry heard Tonks say from behind him. He turned around and nodded, he liked the young auror.

OOOOOOOOOO

Two hours and a rather stressful trip later, Harry, Hermione and the Weasley's arrived in the Leaky Cauldron, accompanied by Tonks. Soon they split into two groups, one was Mrs. Weasley, Fred George and Ginny while Harry, Ron and Hermione went their way with Tonks.

Harry remembered Remus had said earlier to him about people saying or doing things to him and realized it was true, however he heard the sounds of people whispering behind his back. For the first time in his life Harry wanted to leave Diagon Alley as fast as possible.

First the three teens and Tonks decided to go to Gringotts, the wizarding bank, to get money for their school supplies.

Hermione walked behind Harry as they made their way to the bank and could see how tense her friend was getting because of all the staring, people whispering about him and people even pointing at him. She felt bad for him, he didn't deserve this in the slightest. She also realized that this year Harry needed her and the rest of his friends even more than normally.

After the four people had finally made their way into the bank, it didn't take long to reach their vaults. Only Harry and Hermione needed to withdraw money, since Ron already had received his from his mother earlier.

Harry tried to get his money out of his vault as quickly as possible, also doing his best to hide his vault from the view of the rest. Nevertheless, when he turned around he saw Ron and Tonks staring at him with wide eyes. Harry chose to ignore these looks.

OOOOOOOOOO

After they had left Gringotts, they had quickly gone to all the shops they needed to visit. Within two hours they had managed to get all their books, parchment, new quills and ink potions supplies, snacks for Hedwig and Crookshanks and a broom kit for Harry.

"Should we go and get something to eat now?" Ron asked as they exited the last shop.

"Ehh, I would rather go back," Harry said. He had quickly become used to all the people staring and whispering about him, but obviously he still didn't like it.

"Why the big rush mate?" Ron countered. "We have been almost running through all the shops, we were never that quick. Even Hermione was done within 10 minutes in the bloody book shop!"

Harry and Hermione shared a look, not really knowing what to say. It became very clear that the redhead boy had not realized what Harry was going through.

"We have to go back, I have other things to do today," Tonks said before anyone else could open their mouth. She as well had noticed Harry's situation and was a bit surprised his friend hadn't.

Harry quickly shot Tonks a thankful smile before the four of them headed back to Grimmauld place 12. Ron however was in a grumpy mood, but when Hermione had suggested he could go and find his twin brothers and join them he had refused.

OOOOOOOOOO

As soon as they got back, Hermione and the boys went to their room to unpack everything and already pack for tomorrow's trip to Hogwarts. But when Ron and Harry were alone in their room, Harry quickly grew tired of the grumpy redhead. He excused himself and went looking for a quiet spot to relax.

That Harry ended up in the library where he and Hermione were yesterday did surprise him a bit. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he had enjoyed the time with her so much.

Harry was shocked at the thoughts he had of him and Hermione. Was he starting to fall in love with her? "No way, that couldn't be," he said to himself. He decided to distract himself with starting to read his father's diary.

Meanwhile a floor below him in one of the bedrooms, Hermione had trouble concentrating on making her to-pack list for tomorrow. She was still mad at Ron for being so insensitive before, and certainly didn't like the way Ginny was eying Harry. Since when had she become so overprotective?

After finally completing her list, Hermione decided to go and look for her friend. As normal she first went to the boy's bedroom, but wasn't really surprised when she only found a grumbling Ron. She decided to try her luck in the living room.

"Hey, has any of you two seen Harry?" Hermione asked as she saw Remus and Sirius sitting on the couch in the downstairs living room.

"I haven't seen him," Sirius said. "Why? Is something wrong with him?" he added with a concerned look on his face.

"Ehh… well the trip to Diagon Alley wasn't really great," Hermione decided to answer. She knew how much Sirius and also Remus cared about Harry.

Remus and Sirius quickly shared a look, they could imagine how people had reacted to Harry, after all the news around him.

"Have you tried the library you two were last night?" Sirius asked and started laughing when he saw how quickly Hermione had turned around and looked him.

"Ehh… no I haven't," the young witch answered. "But how do you know?" She blushed slightly, causing Sirius to laugh even louder and even Remus to have a smile on his face.

"Oh Hermione I know everything that happens in this house," Sirius said in a dramatic way and gave her a wink. "I suggest you look there," he added slightly more serious.

Hermione nodded and quickly left the two guys alone, she still had a blush on her face. "But wait why are you blushing, you and Harry didn't even do something weird," she asked herself. But as she remembered her waking up on Harry's shoulder, the butterflies in her stomach were definitely there.

OOOOOOOOOO

Hermione felt her heart ache when she entered the library and without a noise proceeded to the seating are she and Harry had used the night before. She saw Harry sitting there, cross-legged on the couch, with his father's diary in his lap and resting his head on his arm. She felt all sorts of emotions flooding her body, and tears appeared in her eyes.

"Hey Harry, here you are," she said with a soft voice as she sat down next to him on the couch. She folded her legs underneath her and looked at her friend.

"Hey 'Mione," Harry said after a short silence and tried to give her a small smile, but it resulted more in a grimace. "Everything ready for tomorrow?"

"Ehh…" Hermione stuttered, thinking back how distracted she was a while ago. "I'm getting there, but I couldn't find you so I went looking," she added.

Harry nodded, not really knowing how to explain. Would Hermione understand?

"Of course, she will idiot! It's Hermione!" he thought to himself.

"Ehh… yeah I had to be alone for a bit I guess," Harry finally managed to get out. After that he immediately stared back in his father's diary, still not sure what Hermione her reaction would be.

Without saying a word, Hermione softly pulled the diary out of Harry's hands and placed it on the little table next to them. This forced Harry to look to her and he was in awe when he saw the sincere friendship her little smile was providing.

"Of course, I don't exactly know how you feel Harry, but I saw what happened today," she said and gave Harry a comforting smile.

Harry felt a gulf of relief wash over him. How could he have ever doubted Hermione? She was always there for him, even when he himself didn't realize he needed someone.

"Thanks 'Mione, it means a lot," Harry said after a short, comfortable silence. "Guess you're the only one."

"I don't think that's true Harry," Hermione said softly and took one of his hand in hers. "A lot of people care for you, especially here. Sirius and Remus, Tonks, Kingsley and I think even Mad-eye."

"Am I the only one who noticed that you didn't name any of the Weasley children?"

Hermione got a frown on her face when Harry said this. "I don't know Harry, you know how Ron is, his mood changes as fast as the weather.

"Your mood changes as well, and you're still always here," Harry said, staring at his hand that was laying in both of Hermione's hands, without even realizing it. His face quickly got a red colour.

"Ehh… well I'm your friend Harry, of course I'm here for you," Hermione said with a voice a bit higher than usual. All the butterflies in her stomach were soaring around when she had heard what Harry had said.

"As for the rest of the people, I think you shouldn't worry about the twins, they love you," Hermione quickly continued trying to remove the awkwardness that was in the room. "I don't know about Ginny, but she shouldn't be too much trouble I think."

Harry looked at Hermione. He saw all her emotions on her face and for a moment he was a bit overwhelmed when he sensed how much she cared for him.

"I can hear it in your voice that you don't trust Ginny," Harry said softly. "Has something happened?"

Hermione shook her head, trying to push the image of how Ginny looked at her this morning during breakfast away. "I don't know, just a feeling," Hermione said shrugging her shoulders.

OOOOOOOOOO

The rest of the afternoon Harry and Hermione spend in the Black's family library. Harry continued reading the book he had chosen last night while Hermione decided to start her new schoolbooks.

When it was dinner time, Harry realized how hungry he was. No wonder really, since they had skipped lunch today. Quickly he and Hermione went downstairs to the kitchen.

When Harry and Hermione entered as the last ones, they got some questioning looks, especially from a young redhead girl. But Harry and Hermione both ignored her.

Harry felt a bit sad that Remus and Tonks weren't there for dinner since they had "work" for the Order, but it was also quite nice that their place was filled by Professor McGonagall. They never really had seen her outside Hogwarts.

Hermione was delighted when she could start a nice conversation with her favourite professor. They were talking about the new schoolyear and, of course, the upcoming war.

Harry didn't really engage in any type of conversation with anybody, until Ron sat down next to him.

"Hey mate, where have you been all afternoon?" the redhead asked while starting to shove food in his mouth.

"Ehh… in the library," Harry said, while watching confused with how much food the young Weasley could fit in his mouth. The corners of his mouth went a bit up when he saw the approving look from Professor McGonagall.

Ron however, was looking like he was having a stroke. "The library?! In the holidays? Are you crazy mate?" he said loudly so that most persons in the kitchen raised their eyebrows.

Harry shrugged his shoulders as his only response.

"Seriously, you should not spend so much time with Hermione, it's starting to rub off on you," Ron said not really knowing what he caused.

Harry blinked a few times before he realized what his friend had just said.

His faced showed no emotion as he slowly got up from his chair, but his anger caused Ron's plate full of food to explode in a hundred pieces.

"At least she is somebody I can count on," Harry said with an icy tone that would make every Slytherin proud. He ignored the dead silence and the shocked faces in the kitchen and walked out.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Hey guys, here is another one for you all! I can't promise to upload a chapter every two days like I was used to since college started again for me, but I will upload as soon as possible every time! Sorry that this chapter is bit shorter but it made sense to me to cut it here. Enjoy!**

As Hermione walked through Grimmauld place 12 she was surprised that she couldn't find Harry. After the incident that took place during dinner nobody had seen him and she was starting to get worried. Somewhere deep inside she also felt a bit proud that Harry had said he could count on her, but for now finding her friend was her top priority.

After she had searched several of the living rooms in the house, as well as the library, Harry's room he shared with Ron and even the roof, that she didn't know was possible to access before, Hermione returned downstairs.

Remus and Sirius shared a bit of a confused look when they saw Hermione enter the living room they were sitting in. They had both expected her to be with Harry at the moment.

"Hey Hermione, where is Harry?" Remus asked with a kind tone as the young witch sat down on the couch and stared in the flames of the fireplace.

Hermione shrugged her shoulders. "I searched almost everywhere but no Harry so far," she sighed and the look on her face displayed all her concerns.

Sirius thought for a moment. Where could Harry be if even Hermione couldn't find him? But after a few moments of silence it came to him.

"Have you tried my old bedroom?" Sirius asked Hermione with a thoughtful voice.

Hermione shook her head and looked a bit confused. "I don't know where it is Sirius," she said.

A few minutes later Hermione walked as quickly as possible up the stairs towards the fourth floor of the house. Quickly she found the portrait Sirius had explained his old bedroom was behind. But after the portrait opened and a door was revealed she couldn't open it.

"Harry are you in there?" she asked with a soft voice, full of emotion. She knew Harry had locked the door magically, and she knew the counter spell of course, but she decided it would be better to respect his privacy at this moment.

"Please let me in Harry, I'm worried about you and I want to see you," Hermione tried again after a longer silence. She now had tears in her eyes, and a slight blush on her cheeks when she realized what she just said but she ignored that for now.

After another period of silence Hermione heard a soft "click" and knew Harry had opened the door.

When she entered Sirius' old bedroom she felt her heart ache when she saw Harry standing in front of the one window that the room had. He looked absolutely devastated.

Without saying a word Hermione walked up and took his hand. Together they stared out of the window in silence for a while.

OOOOOOOOOO

Meanwhile downstairs professor McGonagall and Kingsley Shacklebolt had joined Sirius and Remus in their discussion about Harry.

"I just think it's heart-breaking to see how much he has already lost in his life," Remus said with a sombre voice. Flashbacks of the times he spent with Harry's father were running through his mind.

"Yeah and it doesn't really help that his headmaster and one of his best friends are acting like they do now," Sirius added and he couldn't hide his anger in his voice.

The other adults agreed and started to discuss Dumbledore's role in Harry's misery. Even professor McGonagall found clear words to show her disgust towards the headmaster. In the end, all four concluded they just had to wait and see what the Headmaster was up to.

"At least Potter still has miss Granger as his support," Shacklebolt said after a period of silence where all adults were a bit of lost in their own thoughts.

Remus and Sirius quickly shared a knowing look before they spoke.

"I think Hermione is an excellent influence on Harry," Sirius said with a much happier voice than before. He really liked the young witch and how she and Harry were getting along.

"I agree, especially because she shows him that there are still people around who care for him and who he can trust," Remus added. He as well like Hermione but he didn't really believe Sirius' suspicions about an evolving love between the two teens.

"I can't really say anything because I haven't been around much," Shacklebolt said. "All I know is that the young Potter has an incredible power in him, as we all saw during dinner."

Professor McGonagall nodded in agreement. "I haven't noticed so much magical power I Harry before," she said. "If he learns to control it properly he will be very powerful, I wouldn't want to be on his bad side."

OOOOOOOOOO

Upstairs, Harry and Hermione had moved to the couch. Harry still hadn't said a word but he sure appreciated the presence of Hermione at the moment. His brown-haired friend had not let go of his hand since she had grabbed it almost half an hour ago.

After a long while Harry finally dared to shift his eyes from the floor to the face of his best friend. He let out a small gasp when she saw all the sad emotion in Hermione's face. Hermione just looked at him and gave him a weak smile.

It was when a single tear made its way down over Hermione's cheek that Harry decided to speak.

"Thanks 'Mione," was all Harry managed to bring out in a soft whisper. He wiped the tear of Hermione's cheek with his thumb before returning his eyes to the floor.

As Hermione felt the warm hand of her friend on her cheek she felt a thousand butterflies inside her stomach. Somehow she felt extremely attracted to Harry. But for now he needed her as support so she returned her focus to that.

"Of course, Harry, I told you I was here for you," Hermione said with a voice higher than usual. "I was so worried though, I've never seen you this mad, which is completely understandable of course."

Harry stared at the wall in front of him. "I never had much friends, which makes it hurt so much more that I can't trust my first ever friend anymore," he said after a while with a lot of bitterness in his voice.

Hermione sat a bit closer to Harry on the couch, their legs against each other now. Harry never really had opened up about his past and she didn't exactly know what it was like for him at his relatives, but she feared the worst.

"My time at the Dursley's never was a pleasant time of course," Harry continued with a dry mouth. "It would have been so much easier if I would have friends around me, that's one of the reasons I was so happy when I came to Hogwarts."

Hermione nodded and gave Harry's hand a light squeeze, she knew exactly how he felt since she had experienced more or less the same. "Well at least I had a loving family to turn to," she thought to herself.

"But on the other hand, I think it's good that people like Ron are slowly but surely disappearing from my life," Harry said with a sad voice. "At least I know who my real friends are now, friends like you."

Hermione got a bit of a blush on her face when she heard the compliment but was happy that Harry didn't see at the moment.

OOOOOOOOOO

It was little past midnight when Harry and Hermione got up and wanted to go to sleep. But then Harry suddenly realized that he would have to share the room with Ron, so he quickly was thinking of a different sleeping place.

"You don't want to go back to your room," Hermione said, clearly reading Harry's face. She could totally understand why he didn't want to be in one room with Ron at the moment.

Harry nodded in response. "Maybe I'll just stay here," he said, pointing Sirius's old bed. "Only need some cleaning and then it should be fine," he added.

Before he could do anything, Hermione took out her wand and began murmuring some spells on the bed. After a few seconds, she was finished and the bed looked as new, clean bedsheets and everything included.

"You are brilliant," Harry said with a soft voice and gave her a thankful smile.

Hermione once again blushed but smiled to Harry. They both sat down on the fresh bed and enjoyed a pleasant silence.

A few minutes later Hermione turned her head to look at Harry and to her surprise she saw that he had fallen asleep.

"Ugh all this stress and drama is taking its toll on him," Hermione thought to herself. Silently she got up from the bed, careful not to wake Harry.

She just was about leave the room when she heard him starting to make some noise. As she turned around she saw him moving uncontrollably in his bed, his head flipping from one side to the other and his limbs making weird movements.

Because she was worried Hermione tiptoed back to the bed and put a hand on his forehead. All of the sudden Harry started screaming in a unnatural high scream, as if he was being tortured.

Hermione decided that she had to wake him up and began to carefully shake him.

"Wake up Harry," she said loudly, shaking his body in an attempt to get him out of his nightmare.

I took a few minutes before Harry's eyes shot open. With his eyes wide open he looked through the room, before realizing he had waken up.

"It's alright Harry, you're awake now," Hermione said softly, pushing Harry back on his bed.

Harry visibly relaxed and went with his hands through his hair a few times. "Thanks 'Mione, bit of a bad dream," he said sheepishly.

"I think it's more than just that Harry, isn't it?" Hermione said with a worried expression on her face as she sat on the edge of the bed.

Harry looked at her with a bit of a confused look. Did she know about his dreams and his flashbacks? With an embarrassed expression on his face he looked at her, but didn't say anything. He remembered what Sirius had told him about finding somebody to tell his dreams to. And the one night he spent with Hermione in the library, the only night he didn't have nightmares.

"You can tell me Harry, I won't judge you and most certainly I won't tell anyone," Hermione said softly. She took his hand in hers in a motion that had become almost automatic.

"I know 'Mione," Harry said with a soft voice. "To be honest I had a talk with Sirius and we came to the conclusion that I should tell somebody about my "dreams"."

After a few moments of silence Harry began to explain everything to her. He explained how the nightmares of the battle with Voldemort at the end of last schoolyear kept on haunting him. He explained that he had some weird visions he couldn't explain, that he thought were Voldemort's mind.

After Harry was finished both teens were silent. There were tears in both their eyes, hurt by Harry's story.

"I'm so sorry that you have to go through all this," Hermione said with an emotional voice after a while. "But if you want you can always come to me to tell me about your dreams and visions."

Harry turned his head to her and gave her a warm smile. "Thanks 'Mione, it means a lot."

Hermione smiled and got up from the bed and walked to the door, ready to finally go to sleep. However, before she got to the door she was interrupted again.

"Ehh 'Mione?" Harry's voice came from the other side of the room. "I know it sounds a bit weird but could you maybe stay here?"

Hermione walked back to the bed and looked at Harry. Both of them had a blush on their face after Harry's request.

"The one time we spent the night in the library was the only night I didn't have a dream," Harry explained quickly, before looking away.

Hermione didn't say anything. She remembered that one night very well, especially the feeling of her waking up with her head on Harry's shoulder.

After a few awkward seconds of silence, Hermione took out her wand. With a few flicks of her wand, the bed was twice the size now. She saw the grin on Harry's face before she climbed in the bed.

A bit awkwardly Harry and Hermione laid next to each other. Even though there was still a respectful space in between them both their heads were read.

I took a long while before the two teens could finally sleep, even though they would have to get up in just a few hours to return to Hogwarts. Still holding hands they slowly drifted to sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Thanks for all the reviews, I appreciate the support and (respectful) criticism, keep them coming! I know it takes a bit longer to post new chapters now, but college is stressful! Now enjoy the new chapter!**

The next morning was a very chaotic one. All the teens were getting ready to go back to Hogwarts which was a bigger problem than normal since the security was an issue now. Harry and Hermione didn't really mind the chaos since this meant that nobody paid attention that they were blushing every time they looked at each other.

Later was decided that Tonks and Remus would accompany Harry, Hermione and the Weasley twins to the Hogwarts Express, while Shacklebolt and Mad-eye would accompany the rest.

Harry was thankful that the adults had wisely separated Ron and Harry for the trip, since both boys still hadn't spoken a word to each other after last night.

When everybody was finally ready to go, Harry's group took a taxi Remus had called to get to the station. It was a very uneventful trip and after a short trip through the streets of London, they were on platform 9 ¾.

Automatically a smile appeared on everybody's face when they saw the gigantic train, ready to go. But when Harry realized it was time to say goodbye a sad feeling replaced the smile. He had gotten so used to see the members of the Order every day that he really was going to miss them, especially Sirius and Remus.

As they were saying their goodbyes Remus gave Harry a powerful hug before Sirius did the same. Harry noticed that Mrs. Weasley's goodbye wasn't as loving as usual, probably because of the incident with Ron, but Harry did not pay a lot of attention to that.

OOOOOOOOOO

A few minutes later Harry and Hermione found and empty compartment in the train and were joined by Ginny, Neville and the twins.

While Harry and the twins were catching up with Neville, Harry noticed that Hermione and Ginny didn't say much to each other, and after a short while Hermione disappeared behind on of her books.

After a while he also noticed the young redhead girl staring at him and he decided that he was just going to be forward.

"Is something wrong Ginny?" Harry asked and tried to keep his voice as neutral as possible.

The redhead's cheeks turned a bit red but besides that she didn't back down. "Well I just wanted to ask if you apologized already?" she said after a short silence.

Everybody's attention was now on Harry.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you are talking about," Harry countered even though he very well knew what Ginny was talking about.

Ginny looked at him a few seconds with a dangerous gleam in her eyes, but Harry remained calm and wasn't breaking eye contact.

"I was talking about getting my brother into trouble and being so mean against one of your best friends," Ginny finally said.

The tension in the train compartment was so high it felt like the air was going to explode. Neville was nervously switching his eyes from Harry to Ginny and back, the twins were looking at their sister with a furious look on their face and Hermione tried to keep her face as neutral as possible but without much success.

"I don't think that is necessary to be honest," Harry said calmly, still looking at Ginny. "He didn't support me I felt and I wasn't happy with that, that's all there is to it."

"So you don't care at all that mum yelled at him for an hour straight or that most of the Order people don't talk to him anymore?" said Ginny loudly and giving Harry a dirty look.

Harry went with his hand through his hair and had a frown on his face. "I stand by what I said Ginny, if he will apologize I will gladly accept it. I can't have friends around me that don't support me, not now a war is coming," Harry said with a bit of a tired voice.

"Fine have it your way Harry, but don't expect me to support you if you treat my family and your friends like that," Ginny exclaimed loudly and stormed out of the compartment.

The rest was left behind, giving each other worried looks before nervously looking at Harry. He just sat there, looking more tired than ever and looking much older than he really was.

OOOOOOOOOO

Hermione had watched the exchange of words between Harry and the youngest Weasley closely. She couldn't help but notice the mean glances Ginny had given her in the argument, as if it all was her fault. She made a note to herself to be careful around her for the next period of times.

When she looked at Harry she felt her heart sink in her shoes. Her best friend, who had looked bad before because of all that was going on, looked completely devastated. From the outside he may looked okay or just a bit tired, but it was the empty look in his eyes that made Hermione worry a lot.

For a second she thought about taking his hand, as she had done previous times before. But she realized that Neville and the twins were still there so she decided against it.

OOOOOOOOOO

The rest of the trip to Hogwarts not many words were exchanged. Even though the twins had assured Harry that he could count on them the mood was ruined after the argument with Ginny.

Harry just let his head rest against the window and stared outside to the quickly changing landscape. He let his mind wander and couldn't help to wonder how hard this year was going to be. Would people only believe the Daily Prophet? Would he loose friends like Ron?

But his thoughts also gave him a new drive. He felt motivated to show everybody how strong he was and that he was right.

As the train finally reached its destination, it took a while before all five of the teenagers were outside, which meant they were in one of the last carriages to the castle.

Harry couldn't help but stare at the beauty of the castle when it came into sight. He looked to his right and saw that Hermione had the same, and was staring out of the carriage to the castle. He was finally home.

After the short trip, it didn't take them long to reach the Great Hall. Harry and his friends immediately noticed the many whispers that followed Harry around. They all ignored them to the best of their abilities and Harry, Hermione and Neville quickly sat down at the Gryffindor table while Fred and George left to look for their friends.

"Ugh I expected a bit more from our fellow house mates," Hermione said as she saw Lavender Brown and her friend Parvati giving Harry weird looks.

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "I guess there are more people who believe the Daily Prophet than I thought," he said, meeting the stare Seamus Finnigan was giving him.

Hermione noticed that the spots around them were left empty so that nobody would sit close to them. She had rarely felt so angry and when she looked at Harry she knew he had noticed as well.

OOOOOOOOOO

The rest of the dinner was a rather uneventful event. The only thing that was quite unusual was when Professor Dumbledore had announced Professor Umbridge as new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Neville knew her because his Grandma had talked with her when they went to Diagon Alley, he also could tell she worked for the Ministry.

Hermione was a bit lost in her own thoughts when she heard Neville say that. She concluded that the Ministry was probably going to interfere with the Hogwarts affairs. She was quite worried about that since everybody knew the attitude of the Ministry towards Dumbledore and Harry. Before she could think more into that she was interrupted by a soft voice.

"Let's go to the Gryffindor Tower Hermione, everybody already left," Harry said, who was standing next to her together with Neville.

"Oh yeah sorry, got a bit lost in my thoughts there," Hermione said and quickly got up.

"Well that's nothing new, is it?" Harry teased, which earned him a light swat on the arm. Together the three of them left to the Gryffindor Tower.

Once they entered the tower they realized a lot of their fellow housemates had already gone to bed. Only few people were left in the Common Room but still most of them whispered obviously as Harry and his friends entered.

"I think I'm going to bed as well," Harry said, and Neville nodded that he was going to sleep as well.

They quickly said their goodnight to Hermione who gave Harry a little squeeze in his hand, as if to say that everything was going to be alright. It was a small gesture but Harry was incredibly thankful for it.

Feeling a bit better, he followed Neville to the sleeping dorms. That feeling quickly disappeared when he heard the boys of his dorm talk loudly, discussing whether they should trust Harry or not.

When he opened the door of the dorm the boys immediately became silent and stared at him. That included Ron, who looked as if he was going to say something to him for a second, but he didn't.

"Anything that anyone wants to tell me?" Harry asked coldly, looking at his fellow dorm mates.

Ron shifted his weight uneasily from one foot to the other, but it was Seamus who responded.

"Look Harry, we're not sure we can trust you," he said with a much meaner voice than usual, not that Harry was surprised by that.

"Yeah, I mean you came back with a dead Cedric last year and told everybody You-Know-Who is back without giving proof, so honestly it's a bit hard to believe," Seamus said, looking at Harry with a weird expression on his face.

Harry felt his magic boiling inside him, sparked by the anger he was feeling.

"You want proof Voldemort is back?" Harry hissed in a dangerous tone. "Are you really that stupid?! Who do you think killed Cedric then? Me?"

"Well you're the only one who was with him during the final task last year," Seamus said after a short and tense silence.

Harry couldn't believe what he just heard. Were they really thinking he had killed Cedric and not Voldemort? Without saying another word Harry turned around and marched out of the dorms.

OOOOOOOOOO

Meanwhile in the girls dormitory, Hermione was laying wide awake. Her thoughts kept going back to her best friend. She knew she couldn't keep ignoring the butterflies she felt every time she saw him, one day she had to tell him.

Tired of keep rolling around in her bed she quickly put on some clothes and shoes and made her way out of her dorm. When she entered the common room downstairs, very sleepy and with a book in her hand, she was surprised to see somebody else was sitting in front of the fireplace. It was Harry.

Quietly she made her way to him and sat down next to him. Together they stared in the flames that were lighting up in the fireplace, both happy with each other's precense.

"What happened?" Hermione asked softly after a while. She could always sense if something had happened with Harry and when she looked at him she saw the empty expression on his face.

"I think I might have to find a new sleeping place," Harry answered, looking at the ground. "The other guys, except Neville, don't really trust me and think I was the one who killed Cedric."

Hermione gasped and jumped to her feet. "How could they?!" she exclaimed.

"I guess that's what a lot of the people around here think," Harry said tired. He also stood up and gestured Hermione to follow him to a comfortable couch.

"I don't know Harry, people often just follow others because it's the easy way," Hermione said and took his hand and ran her thumb across it.

"You've doing that a lot recently 'Mione."

Hermione looked at him with confusing for a second, surprised by the sudden change of topic, but then she realized he was talking about her holding his hand. She immediately got a massive blush on her face.

Harry gave her a little smile and when she wanted to let go of his hand he stopped her. "I didn't say that I have a problem with it," he said softly, and a blush was creeping up on his face as well.

Hermione was fighting a war inside her head. On the one hand, she wanted to tell Harry how she felt for him, especially now he was treated so badly by the others. On the other hand, however, she was scared that it would break the relationship they had with each other.

"Are you alright 'Mione?" Harry's voice interrupted her thoughts.

Hermione snapped out of her thoughts and looked at Harry for a second. When she saw his beautiful green eyes, she knew it. She was going to take all her Gryffindor courage together and tell him.

"Ehh yes I'm alright Harry," she started with a trembling voice. "There is something I must confess to you though."

Harry looked at her for a few moments, not knowing what to expect he decided not to say anything and wait for his friend to continue.

Hermione took a few deep breathes before she finally felt strong enough to speak again.

"Ithinkimfallinginlovewithyouharry," she said quickly and immediately looked to the ground.

"Ehhh sorry 'Mione but I didn't get that," Harry said a bit insecure when he saw how she was looking at the carpet on the ground in front of them.

"I said that I think that I'm falling in love with you," Hermione said so softly that it was almost a whisper. She was still looking at the ground.

Harry's jaws dropped to the floor. Did he just really hear that? Hermione was liking him?

"Ehhh are you sure?" Harry said after a period of silence. "I mean not that I don't want you to like me, but are you sure about me?"

Hermione looked up and turned around, folding her legs underneath her, so she was facing Harry now.

"Yes Harry I'm sure about you," she said, looking him in the eyes.

Harry swallowed visibly. His brain was spinning so much that he couldn't think clearly at the moment. After all, this was what he wanted as well.

"Well then let me ask you a question," Harry said, imitating Hermione's position so they were facing each other on the couch now. "Do you want to be my girlfriend Hermione?"

Hermione's eyes widened. Did he really just ask her to be his girlfriend?!

"Yes Harry!" she said with a big smile appearing on her face, before she threw herself around his neck, giving him the best hug she had ever given to somebody.

When Hermione released Harry from the hug Harry saw a few loose locks of hair on her face. Gently he stretched out his arm and tucked them behind her ear. That's when he saw how close Hermione's face was.

His eyes completely got lost in her beautiful brown eyes. Slowly he moved a bit closer to her. They were now so close that he could feel her warm breath on his skin.

Hermione also moved a bit closer to him. Now they were only inches apart.

Harry's eyes fell on Hermione's lips, slightly parted from each other and looking very soft. When he realized that she was doing the same he couldn't help himself anymore.

Slowly he moved closer, hoping that Hermione wouldn't move away, which she indeed didn't. Softly he let his lips brush against hers and gave her a little kiss.

When he wanted to move his head back again, Hermione put his arm around his neck and pulled him back. Slowly they started to make out.

"I can't believe it, Hermione is really my girlfriend!" Harry thought to himself, before completely giving in to the love of his life.


End file.
